Kappa Japanese Restaurant

My boyfriend going to Senegal for work 20days 2 days before valentine day! I wanted take him place he enjoyed before we came, I wanted treat special dinner for him. We came here few years ago wanted come back soon but couldn’t. We enjoy high class traditional Japanese cuisine like last time owner’s wife is so beautiful as usual and she make incredible desert for guest. Meal here is really high quality we love every bite of it! I appreciate chef/​owner’s high skill preparation! Someone love real Japanese meal must try!!! I had great time with my boyfriend at restaurant we even went Karaōke after all! To down stair spot. Had great great time with love of my life Rocky! He enjoy it very much! He hates me so I rather pay bill for him again… I have to pay for his time.

This was the most unique Japanese dining experience I have ever had in the US. We loved the Omakase style. We ordered the 9 course meal. Everything was superb. I tried many things I have never eaten before, such as squid and some other things I didn’t know I was eating. We brought my son who had just spent some time in Japan and he said this was every bit as good as the best food he had in Japan.
Make no mistake. Nine courses will fill you up. I think 7 courses will as well. If you bring friends, make sure they are all adventurous. I would not bring my picky friends here who always ask for every dish to be prepared a specific way to their liking.
Service was by the wife owner and she was delightful. She was so sweet to our son, as she overheard us talking about his trip to Japan. She recommended some excellent Sakes. I can’t wait to go back. This is truly one of the most unique restaurants in San Francisco and contributes in a big way to our cultural diversity.

The best Japanese restaurant I’ve been to outside of Tokyo or Kyoto! You step inside and it’s like you’ve been transported straight to Japan. This is Omakase at its best :) if you’re expecting a ‘sushi’ place this is probably not what you’re looking for, but if you want traditional, authentic and immaculately prepared Japanese flavours and dishes, you won’t find better!

I was fortunate to have a close friend from out of town take me here and it is by far one of the best Japanese restaurants in the U.S. So impressed. The family is amazing kind and warm with incredible skills. Every dish left me wanting more. So much awesome. I can’t recommend this enough. Plan ahead and order the omakase.

Services was excellent. food was
toro for sashimi plate. bento like mixed course was ok. Too much sauce on everything

I can’t recommend Kappa highly enough! It’s a bit hard to find: upstairs at the corner of Post and Buchanan, with only a tiny sign at the top to tell you it’s there. And yes, it’s pretty cozy inside. But the service is terrific and the food is so yummy — and very different from typical Japanese food you are likely to have had. My wife and I loved it!
I have to give them a special shout out for accommodating our need to leave by 7:00 for a movie. They made sure to speed up our courses and we made the show with no problem.

Friendly family-​style ‘Koryori’ omakase dinner. We went for their 9-​course menu as we wanted to try everything. Maybe it was the wrong decision as we ended up being overly stuffed. The food was fresh, and delicious, but the flavors were not as delicate as those in the higher end restaurants. The menus were a bit too heavy on the seafood. Regardless, we love the intimate, quiet ambient and the attentive and very polite service offered by the couple running the restaurant. They also have some high quality sake!

It’s been a long time…
I fist want to say the place feels the same as it did 25 years ago.
Bowl of kim chee.
Super quick service. Take out flying out the door.
The food was a bit different from what I remembered, but still good.
Dry Fried Chicken. Chicken itself a bit bland. It could use a bit of marinade or seasoning, but the garlic-​onion– garlic-​chili peppers sautéed over the top gave it life.
Dry Fried Green Beans. A bit too much batter. Same sauce as above. Good, but next time only 1 DryFry.
San Wang Special Clams. Good proportion. A bit light on flavor. Yes, really. Lots of sauce to go over rice.
Overall, for all the peppers in the food, both jalapeños and dry red chiles, that it would have more kick. And don’t forget all the garlic that puts Stinking Rise to shame! Just didn’t have that Punch!
Good, and will revisit.

Fantastic experience. First of all, it’s sort of a hidden location with no external signs so you’ll have to know where to go — the single door entry is at the corner of the complex where Playground is located, climb the staircase to the 2^nd floor, and it’s the door to the right of Ssisso. The owners were very nice and accommodating. Service was excellent. Each dish was excellent. Nice cozy atmosphere. highly recommend

Literally hidden away in the busy Japantown district, this tiny but formidable Japanese restaurant is worth the search.
We had a 7-​course omakase for $ 95. It was a bargain considering the quality and diversity of the offerings. Too many to mention. Just go and experience it for yourself. You’ll see how they’ve been in business for 26 years, just run by a sweet couple.
Pro-​Tip: They only take same-​day reservations, by phone only. Call right at 4:30pm, only about 8 seats in the whole place, it’s the size of a closet.

The food is excellent and the ambiance is entirely unique. In an age of fading Nihonjingai (Japantowns) places like this won’t be around for much longer so best to enjoy them while they last. On weekends it seems the only option is a 7– or 9-​course meal which is my only gripe because as a repeat customer I was really looking forward to ordering my culinary fantasies directly off the menu. Nonetheless, the omakase takes you on a wide tour of traditional Japanese food genres with a kaiseki theme.
Though similar dishes may be found elsewhere in the city, the attention to detail here is what separates this place from the other riff raff. My favorites for the evening were the grilled scallop, with a subtle yet real grilled taste (no fake grill marks); the tamago, ankimo, miso green beans and surf clam on the kaiseki plate; and honorable mention for the jellyfish, seaweed and crab in vinegar dressing. Sake was reasonable by the glass and you can actually do a flight of several types of sake like junmai, ginjo-​shu, and daiginjo-​shu! I hope to return.

Authentic 7 course Japanese meal. If you have never tried, I would recommend as it is a unique and delicious experience

Came here for a nice quiet kaiseki dinner a couple of months ago and was extremely pleased with the subtle ambiance and outstanding service.
The meal is determined the day of and based on what’s fresh and seasonal. Kaiseki is a style of japanese dining where the chef focuses on balancing taste, texture, appearance and color for each plate. The meal itself is thoughtfully planned out course to course as certain types of prepared food must follow others, etc.
I could tell the food was made with love.

I was excited to find this type of Japanese restaurant in San Francisco. I didn’t know it existed.
There is no menu here. You just tell them if you have allergies or don’t eat certain things and then you sit. There are two prix fix options: one for $ 95 and the other for $ 125. The $ 125 option gets you a few extra courses and some upgrades, like Uni in your sashimi plate. Frankly I don’t think it’s totally worth the extra money.
The food was ok overall. Some things were fantastic like the beef slices. They melted in my mouth; absolutely amazing. And then there was the flip-​side. One of the dishes was a big collection of items. It was huge and a bit odd. There didn’t seem to be any cohesiveness to the dish; it was like they threw on some of their favorite foods on to one plate. Some items on there were really good. Others, like the chicken teriyaki, were burnt.
All in all, it was an ok place to go but for the price, I won’t be going back, nor would I recommend it.

Came here on Saturday night for omakase. It was an awesome and intimate experience. After the first 15 or so minutes, the only other couple in the restaurant finished their meal, so my group of 4 were the only ones left. The service was impeccable. The chef prepared the next course (7 in total) while we were enjoying the one in front of us, so there was never any wait-​time between courses. The woman who was helping him with service also really made the whole experience feel upscale. This has potential to make the meal uncomfortable at times, but we struck up conversation with them and felt very welcomed.
While the food was prepared impeccably, some of it was just not to my liking. The things that were, however, were amazing. The quality of the food (fish in particular) was outstanding. I would have ordered a bunch of sashimi and nigiri if I could have. For the price ($ 95 each without drinks), I would not return for this meal. That being said, I’m glad I tried it once.

Once you find this tiny, charming little place (it took us ½ hour)…you’ll be rewarded with a traditional Japanese dining experience of the best kind.
There were only six diners during our visit, and it was nearly full.
But the beauty is the pacing, the service, and the wonderful couple who will provide you with an authentic experience that is tough to find outside of Japan.
Go here. Go with the slow flow. And savor every moment. It’s art.

More like 3.4 stars. Hate to say it, but this place was underwhelming given expectations/​price. I much prefer Wakuriya over Kappa. I need to try Maruya for reference as well.
Not much sticks out in my mind about the menu, except how beautiful the plates looked with all the morsels on them laid out with precision. I felt like some of the dishes were a bit heavy handed in terms of flavor profile with sesame and mustard.
One large positive take away was the Japanese beer I had — Coedo – that was amazing.

Kappa is a sensational experience for new lovers.
A small, hidden, and unpretentious restaurant in Japantown — this authentic restaurant dazzles the senses with it many courses.
Gents — Just go all out. Koryori style.
(For the unenlightened: «Koryori» is the Japanese equivalent of tapas style cuisine.)
I was dating a Japanese gal when I first found this place. She was my interpreter to the cute couple that run this place.
«What do you think?» I asked my date.
«It’s better than the real thing,» she said.
(Home run, boys. Home run.)

Great, great, great experience for me and Mo. The atmosphere is a little intimidating at first because of the smallness of the space. Also can be hard to find if you aren’t careful and prepare beforehand. So be sure to leave enough time before you reservation to find the place.
Décor: Clean, very classic japanese, small, very intimate 10 seats MAX (thus reservations are a must-​do).
Service: Very Japanese, hot fresh towel before and after meal. Wife and husband duo have clearing been doing this a long time and work very well together. Every part of your meal with be timed almost perfectly. No need to worry about anything while here.
Pricing is steep but for us was worth the splurge for the omakase experience.
As for food… Mo and I thoroughly enjoyed our experience. I have tried many things but I still was able to experience something new here at Kappa and maybe even a little out of my comfort zone. Something to be prepared for is that is NOT your typical run of the mill Japanese restaurant. Almost everything if not everything is prepared and produced by the owners. Thus the price. The style of cooking is very homey and all of the preparations are classic Japanese. If anything you are getting Japanese cuisine in its purest form. No fuss. No fancy foams or heaping plates full of food. SIMPLICITY is the theme and the key here. Food at its purest form with as little done or added to it as possible so that you are actually tasting the ingredients. If your not down for that Kappa is NOT the place for you. Mo and I went in knowing that and we had a lovely meal.

7 course omakase for $ 95 is overrated.
As much as I was hoping to come home and rave about this place, I just can’t seem to figure out how other fellow Unilocalers can give this place 5 golden stars. My experience here was well, underwhelming and unsatisfying. I didn’t just pay $ 95 for some fried chicken, fried corn and egg plant… which was surprisingly part of our third course. Nor did I expect to have half a strawberry, orange and sorbet as my seventh course as dessert. (C’mon, for a $ 95 meal you think you’d at least have something better than that!) I have paid $ 200 for a twenty course omakase before and it was the real sh*t! I’m talking about sashimi and other seafood in every course! Other than the soup that was served as the first course, none of the other dishes here stood out to me. I was pleased to finally see sashimi served as our fourth course; however the quality of the fish was mediocre.
I definitely don’t see myself coming back here, not anytime soon at least.

It was like finding some old Japanese ruin. «Look for a light,» people said, and I wondered if I was in a Miyazaki film or something. Was the cat bus going to come and take me there?
So my friend is getting married and asked me to be groomsmen, so we can here to celebrate!
Kampai!
It just so happens that I have a tux from my Uncle’s wedding, so I’m all set.
The service right off the bat was superb. The woman in the kimono was sweet, and the chef was kind and smiled often.
My only complaint was the private party of frat boys behind me who were swearing, drinking beer, and talking so loudly I could barely hear my friend.
Nothing against frat boys, I lived in a frat house during my undergrad, but these guys were jerks and made my meal unpleasant since I could barely hear how my friend got engaged. And swearing at the top of your lungs at a restaurant… man, these guys must have been raised by wolves. If I ever swore at dinner or otherwise, my mom would beat the you know what out of me.
Back to the meal, it was, well fun. We had a lot of small «fun» dishes like fried corn, crab sunomono, scallop salad, strawberry sorbet.
Each dish was bite sized, except for the nigiri, which had fresh salmon, uni, and unagi.
Is this place into fancy presentation? No.
Is it nice comfort food? Yes.
I felt like I was back in Japan for 2 hours. Laughing with my buddy, and saying over and over… congratulations!

Came here for my bf birthday dinner and we were both pleasantly surprised! As other reviewers have mentioned, it is slightly hard to find if you have never been to the playground. It’s actually above the playground and there’s a sign in front that says KAPPA.
When I made the reservations we went with the koryori style menu which is basically an omakase. We were presented with 8 beautiful and delicious dishes. We first started off with a salad, several appetizers, we had tray of assorted cooked items, some sashimi and dessert. We were blown away by the assortment of the dishes. Everything was tasty and well prepared. We would come back again for another special occasion!
Total for 2: $ 220 with tip!

I have many pet peeves.
From punctuality to talking during a movie to long pinky finger nails to eagle claws aka crusty toes hanging on for dear life from the edge of a sandal (get a pedi and a bigger shoe size please!), one of my main pet peeves is how people treat wait staff. I believe the way a person treats a waiter (ess) reveals a lot about a person’s character.
I’m not one to put people on blast but in this case I will.
Thank you, Scott Disick doppelgänger for ruining our dining experience at Kappa by loudly and obnoxiously boasting about your Harvard education, about your $ 150k minimum salary requirement as a recent college grad, and your customized Ferrari. He probably thought my gf and I would be impressed overhearing all of his self-​gloating (it’s very small and quiet at Kappa) but we weren’t. It was annoying and he disrupted our entire meal. You’re a douche and an even bigger douche for talking to Toshiaki-san’s wife in such an arrogant and condescending tone during your interactions with her. Not cool.
Now that I got that out of the way, Kappa is a neighborhood gem tucked inside the entryway of Milo Lounge (
), next door to Playground (
). With just 12 seats, Kappa serves Koryori, a Kyoto version of Kaiseki. It’s like a Japanese Chef’s Tasting menu that’s very simply prepared with minimal garnishes so the main ingredient is the focal point and you can enjoy it in its purest form. Though they have a la carte menu at Kappa, the only way to go is with the 7-​Course Omakase for $ 85. Expect to spend about 2 hours for a very well-​paced dinner.
Spectacular from start to finish, my dining experience at Kappa (sans douchebag) was most reminiscent to the Michelin-​starred Wakuriya in San Mateo (my review:
) and Kiss Seafood nearby (my review:
) but with a lot more LOVE.
Toshiaki-​san and his wifey are the cutest and sweetest Japanese couple ever. While he works his culinary magic, his wifey runs the front of the house. They were very warm, hospitable, and attentive. It’s truly a one of a kind experience so make reservations, take a seat and be prepared to take a culinary trip for your taste buds to Kyoto and back in 2 hours.
7-​COURSE OMAKASE DINNER ($ 85)
(1) Fishcake w/​Sea Urchin Soup:
(2) Rare-​cooked Tuna w/​Japanese Mustard & Scallion:
(3) Snow Crab w/​Cucumber in a Vinegar Broth:
(4) Variety Plate: Tsukune, Satsumaage, Blackskin Pork, Turnip, Black Cod, Tonkatsu, etc.:
(5) Sashimi — Hamachi, Uni, Chu Toro & Amberjack:
(6) Nigiri — Baby Scallop, Unagi & Seared Toro:
(7) Mango Sorbet, Sweet Rice Cake, Melon, Persimmon & Red Bean Jello:
If you appreciate top-​notch seasonal ingredients with subtle flavors and delicate textures, you will thoroughly enjoy every course at Kappa. The soul-​warming soup led way to the tenderly soft tuna with a nose tingle from the mustard. The succulently sweet snow crab prepared our appetite for the abundant variety plate of 12 items ranging from the supple fishcake, richly flaky black cod, deliciously crunchy tonkatsu to the succulent chicken meatball. There’s nothing like fresh fish in its unadulterated form and Toshiaki-​san truly knows how to showcase this in the sashimi and nigri courses. The sashimi was ultra-​silky and buttery while the slightly torched nigiri created a mouth-​watering decadent mouth feel. The delicious simplicity of ripe, seasonal fruits was displayed in the fruit centered dessert closer course.
Kappa is definitely a must for all foodies who can appreciate culinary greatness in its simplistic form.
Going back to the Scott Disick doppelgänger, you know I couldn’t leave without some parting words.
You know what they say about people who brag about themselves and all their materialistic possessions… they’re just compensating for something or a lack of «something».
*Whispers*: Lipstick D*ck.